Atlanta Braves' Lefty Tosses Another "Maddux" in Shutting Out Miami Marlins
The Atlanta Braves shutout the hapless Miami Marlins on Tuesday night by a score of 5-0. Atlanta is now 16-6 on the year while the Marlins are now 6-19. One year after making the playoffs in the National League, the injuries to a once-vaunted pitching staff have clearly taken their toll on MIami.
With regards to pitching, there were no issues on Tuesday for Braves' starter Max Fried. The lefty tossed a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and no walks. He struck out six.
It had been a difficult start to the season for Fried, but he's now 2-0 with a 4.97 ERA. The complete-game shutout gave him his third career "Maddux," which is a complete-game shutout done in under 100 pitches.
Per Sarah Langs of MLB.com on social media:
most Madduxes (9-IP SHO, sub-100 pitches), Braves since pitch counts tracked (1988):
Greg Maddux: 10
Tom Glavine: 5
Max Fried: 3
Those performances have always been impressive, but they feel even more impressive now given the current state of baseball. Furthermore, pitchers are generating more strikeouts than they ever have before. This leads to higher pitch counts and earlier exits for starters. Furthermore, given the way in which team's protect starters, they usually don't let them go after complete games, but the Braves did on this night.
In the wake of Spencer Strider's season-ending injury, it's great to see Fried step up and be the ace that the Braves need. If he can continue to do that, the Braves will have every opportunity to win their second World Series title in four years.
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